A former employee's allegations that Lynchburg, Va.-based Centra Health illegally refused to admit certain juvenile psychiatric patients has prompted probes by regulatory agencies, according to The News & Advance.
Kimberly Hartman, who was manager of Centra's 20-bed child and adolescent psychiatric unit at Virginia Baptist Hospital in Lynchburg, reportedly told regulatory officials she was fired June 6 after she expressed concerns to colleagues about Centra not admitting some juvenile patients to her unit.
She claimed Centra refused to admit certain patients because they were "autistic and out of the area," which violated the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act.
In a June 29 email, she told the Virginia Board of Medicine, the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, CMS and the Virginia Office of the Attorney General her colleagues said they are not supposed to admit children from out of the area with autism because it was "'too hard to find aftercare appointments,'" according to The News & Advance.
The Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services confirmed to Becker's that the department received a complaint and is investigating it.
"Right now, the DBHDS office of licensing is in the process of investigating these allegations and determining which ones fall under licensing regulations," said Maria Reppas, the department's communications director. "Although I cannot speak to any specifics until the investigation is complete, I can tell you that the concerns were about health and safety. I can also confirm that the recent visits from the office of licensing were due to these specific complaints."
According to The News & Advance, the Joint Commission also is investigating.
Centra spokesperson Diane Ludwig told the newspaper the health system is looking into Ms. Hartman's claims as well and plans to work with other investigating agencies.
"We have thoroughly investigated the EMTALA concerns and have confirmed there was no violation of law," she said in an email to the publication.
She confirmed that Centra fired Ms. Hartman on June 6.